---

21 Jul 2005 : Column 1953W—continued

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the annual UK emissions of carbon dioxide were, including emissions from aircraft taking off from UK airports in each of the past five years. [13001]

Mr. Morley: Annual UK emissions of carbon dioxide from domestic aviation and UK total carbon dioxide emissions are shown in the following table for the years 1999 to 2003 in million tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO ₂ ). The data on aviation covers emissions from all civil domestic passenger and freight traffic movements inside the UK. This data is from the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory published in 2005.
 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 1954W
 

MtCO ₂

	Domestic aviation	UK total emissions
1999	1.8	556.4
2000	2.0	560.4
2001	2.1	577.2
2002	2.1	559.9
2003	2.1	572.2

Under guidelines agreed internationally, emissions from international aviation taking off and landing at UK airports are not included in UK total emissions, but are estimated for information purposes. Emissions of carbon dioxide from international aviation, for 1999 to 2003, are estimated in the following table.
MtCO ₂

	International aviation
1999	27.4
2000	30.2
2001	29.5
2002	28.9
2003	29.7

Cetaceans

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dolphin and porpoise strandings there were in the south-west in each of the last five years. [12995]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 18 July 2005]: From 1 January 2000 until 18 July 2005 a total of 376 harbour porpoises and a total of 867 dolphins (including common, white beaked, white sided and striped) were reported as strandings in the south-west. Table 1 gives a breakdown by year for the number of harbour porpoise and Table 2 gives the breakdown for dolphins.

Strandings data is obtained under the Defra-funded Cetacean and Turtle Strandings Scheme, carried out by the Natural History Museum in partnership with the Institute of Zoology and Scottish Agricultural College.
Table 1: Total numbers of stranded harbour porpoise for 2000—up to 18 July 2005

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Cornwall	21	25	68	40	114	18
Devon	8	12	14	11	21	9
Dorset	2	4	6	0	0	3
Total	31	41	88	51	135	30

Table 2: Total numbers of stranded dolphins for 2000—up to 18 July 2005

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Cornwall	36	81	89	196	105	47
Devon	15	37	25	65	61	9
Dorset	9	5	25	38	12	12
Total	60	123	139	299	178	68

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the latest population estimates for dolphins and porpoises in south-west waters are. [13132]

 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 1955W
 

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 18 July 2005]: Obtaining population estimates for mobile species such as cetaceans is difficult. According to scientific advice recently published by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, dolphins Delphinus delphis present in south-west waters form part of a single genetic population in the North East Atlantic. Although no single abundance survey has been carried out for this area, scientific work base don surveys for various parts of the North East Atlantic suggests a population of the order of 380,000 animals. Similarly, the harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena is widely distributed in all waters around the UK. The 2002 report of the Advisory Committee on Ecosystems of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ECES) estimated 36,280 harbour porpoise in south-west waters.

A consortium of international researchers, co-ordinated by the Sea Mammal Research Unit, is currently carrying out a second SCANS survey of the distribution and abundance of small cetaceans—particularly harbour porpoises, bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncates and common dolphins. The survey area is intended to cover the shelf waters of the Atlantic margin, the North sea and adjacent waters. The UK contributed £275,000 to this project. The results of the second SCANS survey should be available by the end of 2006.

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the results of the 2005 trial of separator grids in the bass pair trawl industry; and if she will make a statement. [13133]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 18 July 2005]: During the 2004–05 season, a preliminary analysis by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) of research conducted on behalf of DEFRA suggests that there was a total mortality of 142 common dolphins in the UK pair trawl fishery for bass, compared with 429 in 2003–04 and 114 in 2002–03.

During fishing operations, trials of the separator grid were undertaken by SMRU with some positive results, though further testing will be needed to improve its performance. A fuller analysis by SMRU on observations made in the UK pair trawl fishery for bass will be published on the DEFRA website in the autumn.

Common Agricultural Policy

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which companies and individuals in England received payments of more than £200,000 under the Common Agricultural Policy in 2004; and what sum was received in each case. [12639]

Jim Knight: I have been advised by the Rural Payments Agency that a copy of this information in the form of a CD ROM was forwarded to you on Tuesday 22 March 2005. This information is also available in the Library of the House in the same format.

I understand that Lord Bach wrote to you on 18 July explaining that a further regional analysis of CAP payments for the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund year 2003–04 will be published on the RPA website on Wednesday 20 July at 12.30pm.
 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 1956W
 

Community Energy Programme

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the future of the Community Energy Programme in (a) Scotland and (b) England and Wales. [14049]

Mr. Morley: Defra has made £10 million available to extend the Community Energy programme to 2007–08. We are currently working with the Energy Saving Trust and Carbon Trust, the joint programme managers, to finalise the details of this extension. We will announce these details before the first bidding round, which we expect to run in the autumn.

Correspondence

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letter from the hon. member for Totnes dated 25 May relating to the Stoke Fleming parish council's community composting centre. [13884]

Mr. Bradshaw: I replied to the hon. Member's letter on 18 July. I apologise for the delay.

Digital Mapping

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in producing digital maps of farmland; and if she will make a statement on the effect of the time taken in preparation of the maps on the ability of landowners to participate in her Department's schemes. [9360]

Jim Knight: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has developed the Rural Land Register (RLR) from paper based maps used to support subsidy claims. From 2002 to 2004 land was digitised from area aid applications received from farmers. All prospective subsidy applicants have to apply to RPA to have their land registered. Currently RPA has received 18,114 requests for new land registrations. To date there have been 94,801 land registrations or applications for land registration and of these 89,678 or 94 percent. of applicants and previous subsidy claimants have been sent digitised maps.

It is a requirement of Environmental Stewardship (ES) for farmers to have their land registered on the RLR. RPA has been prioritising land registration and modifications to existing land registration requests associated with prospective ES applications. However, a proportion of potential applicants have encountered delays in entering the ES. The original deadline for the first application window was extended and monthly start dates have been introduced for the entry level strand of ES to minimise the impact.

---